The Council for the Human Future
The Council for The Human Future (CHF) is a body of researchers and concerned citizens dedicated to finding and developing solutions to the greatest challenge in human history - the complex of catastrophic global risks that now confront us all.
The Mission of the Council is to raise global awareness of humanity’s growing existential emergency that is resulting from failure everywhere, adequately to address these risks.
The risks include, ecological collapse, resource depletion, weapons of mass destruction, global warming, global poisoning, food insecurity, population and urban expansion, pandemic disease, dangerous new technologies and self-delusion. They are often seen and treated as separate issues, but in reality, are deeply intertwined: each affects the others. This means they cannot be dealt with one at a time but must be addressed in an integrated way – and by the whole of humanity.
The end of civilization and human extinction are distasteful topics. Nobody likes discussing them and many people prefer to ignore them as they go about their daily lives. But ignoring them does not banish or reduce the risk – it only leaves humanity less prepared, our future more perilous. There is no other way to deal with such a complex problem than to face up to it, to understand it thoroughly, and to then take resolute and agreed species-wide action to prevent it.
Australia21 Board Members Paul Barratt AO and Em Professor Bob Douglas AO are founding board members of the CHF along with Professor John Hewson AM and science writer and author of several books on these matters, Julian Cribb FRSA FTSE
